Chess
by AutonomousAnonymous
Summary: "... Harry headed straight back to the Gryffindor common room, where he found Ron and Hermione playing chess. Chess was the only thing Hermione ever lost at, something Harry and Ron thought was very good for her." Maybe Ron taught Hermione a little bit about the game whilst they were alone? Just a fluffy story with some humour, friendship, a little romance, and mostly in character


Opening Author's Note: Soooo, it has been a while since I have uploaded... anything. At all. For anyone that for some reason has been looking for updates from me, probably to my multi-chapter story, _Prisoner of Azkaban Missing Moments_, I apologise. Life has been chaotic and honestly, I have lacked motivation. Recently, however, I have been reading more fan fiction here and on 'An Archive Of Our Own' and have had a few ideas come to mind so I might be updating again more in less time than before.

Disclaimer: All characters, quotes, etc. are retained by Ms J.K. Rowling and her affiliates. I do not own anything other than the idea of.

Background: This takes place during First Year during Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone and was inspired by my thoughts imagining Hermione and Ron playing chess. Specifically the line that inspired me was the following:

**"The rest of the team hung back to talk to one another as usual at the end of practice, but Harry headed straight back to the Gryffindor common room, where he found Ron and Hermione playing chess. Chess was the only thing Hermione ever lost at, something Harry and Ron thought was very good for her."**

—_Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_, Chapter 12

* * *

Chess

With a slight huff, Hermione Granger folded her arms across her chest in frustration as she watched a black knight literally throw her last white bishop off the chess board. Ronald Weasley was thoroughly thrashing her yet again.

Since becoming friends with Ron and Harry Potter, she had come to learn more and more about the two. First impressions were poor to say the least for both parties—Harry and Ron on one hand, her on the other—but she was not too stubborn to admit that she might have been a little wrong about the two of them. She was perhaps even more so in regard to one of them—specifically the one sitting across from her.

Both Harry and Ron had talents and skills that she had not been aware of whatsoever. Unlike with Harry, however, where his flying skills were publicly displayed for the entire school to see at Qudditch matches, some of Ron's talents were more reserved and better demonstrated in private. Ron was absolutely astounding at chess and for someone with a rather short fuse that often saw him speak before his brain had had a chance to think over his words, he was remarkably patient. Chess was a game that required patience, logic, forethought, strategy, deception, and all the sorts of intellectual skills that someone such as Hermione had in immeasurable amounts. Yet when it came to chess, there was very clearly only one 'master' and it really only barely began to describe Ron. And it made her furious.

Okay, maybe not furious, she thought, looking up at him from across the chessboard, one finger cautiously reaching for one of her few remaining pawns whilst he observed her with a rather stoic and neutral expression. Hermione really was not a sore loser; she wasn't! It was merely frustrating how completely and thoroughly he seemed to defeat her every time they played. More so than that though, the most frustrating part was how effortlessly he seemed to do so! Brushing some of her bushy hair out of her face, she unconsciously let out a more audible huff that resulted in a slight smirk breaking through Ron's previously stoic composure.

"Frustrated?" he asked in a neutral tone, though with a grin hiding behind it.

"No!" she replied a bit too sharply. Looking up to meet his gaze, her frustration softened slightly. "Okay, maybe a little. I just do not understand?"

Ron sat up straighter, his blue eyes meeting her brown, his cheeky grin being replaced with a more serious one.

"What exactly do you not understand Hermione?"

Hermione pulled her hand back from her pawn and looked at him hesitantly. She was still a little unsure whether he was mocking her or asking a genuine question, despite the fact that Ron had since apologised for his words at Halloween. His apology had been very heartfelt, or at least as heartfelt as a boy at their age could provide. His ears had turned very pink and he looked mostly at his trainers as he acknowledged what he had done (albeit with a slight bit of rambling involved), but he had looked her in the eyes at the apology itself and his blue eyes had been full of genuine regret.

Hermione too had turned a bit pink as well when accepting the apology, though she naturally kept eye contact with him until they both smiled nervously and looked away. Privately, Hermione really liked whenever she and Ron made eye contact—his eyes were what she noticed first about him when she had met him on the train. That and the slight bit of dirt on his nose, but his eyes were what had kept most of her attention and what she found herself drawn to most. Even now, they continued to give her a small thrill whenever they met hers and when combined with one of his nervous smiles, or even more so, one of his lopsided smiles, she would feel a tiny flutter in her stomach and she would feel warmed ever so slightly on her inside. She would never admit it out loud of course, but privately she would quietly enjoy these interactions.

After another silent moment of observing Ron and evaluating his question, she looked down again uneasily as she decided to open up.

"I don't understand how you can beat me so easily! Chess is a game of intellect, logic, planning, and patience... What am I doing wrong?" she asked in frustration.

Ron observed her for a moment before clearing his throat and casually stating, "Well, maybe you just need a solid introduction as your foundation."

Hermione paused, his words sounding extremely familiar for a moment before she realised that he was quoting her the other night when she had been helping him write an essay for History of Magic. She cocked an eyebrow at him in question.

"Are you mocking me Ronald Weasley?" she asked with a hint of a smile on her face as Ron's face flushed. "Or are you actually trying to help me?"

"Can't it be both?" he asked with a bit of a cheeky grin that resulted in Hermione rolling her eyes, but smiling nonetheless.

"Seriously though, I think what might help is getting a better foundation of the game. I see you hesitate moving some of the pieces and I don't think it's always because you're considering where to move it, but perhaps rather _how_ to move it?" he asked in a kind voice.

Hermione raised her eyebrows in slight shock. She did sometimes have to consider not only where to move, but what the piece she was considering moving even _was_, and how it moved. She nodded slightly, suddenly feeling a little nervous in his presence. Ron nodded in reply, smiling at her without even the slightest hint of cockiness or smugness. Considering the board for a moment, he looked up at her.

"You had said that Muggles have chess as well right? Does their chess have different rules or pieces?"

"No, they all seem to be relatively the same I think?" she replied a little bit unsure, suddenly rethinking everything she thought she knew about chess.

"How come you didn't play more often then? Practising seems to be the best way to learn," he suggested.

"Well, being an only child, I did not exactly have any brothers or sisters to play with and my parents worked a lot," she said with a shrug.

Ron suddenly felt a wave of guilt rush over him at her words and looked down yet again. Afraid that he already knew the answer, he gulped before looking up in hesitation before tentatively asking, "Did none of your friends want to play with you or...?"

"I didn't exactly have friends before Hogwarts," she said with another shrug, though a sliver of a crack appeared to break through her face that showed she was at least slightly hurt by the memory.

Ron seemed to feel his stomach bottom out and genuinely felt a pain in his heart. He winced as his own words from the day of Halloween repeated themselves in his head. He lowered his head in shame and disgust at himself.

"And then you came to Hogwarts, hopeful to find a fresh start where you could find some friends and instead you encountered an insufferable prat that called you a nightmare when really he was the nightmare," he said with his voice full of self-loathing. Too upset with himself to meet her eyes, he added, "I am so, so sorry Hermione. Again."

Hermione gazed at the top of Ron's head with a tiny smile on her face. It was clear how much he truly regretted his words and how he had treated her, especially if the colour of his ears were any way to measure it. The detestation at himself was evident in his tone and seeing just how much he cared that he had added to her misery was almost endearing to her. Taking the opportunity to be bold, she placed one of her hands atop of his own that had come to grip the side of the table. He snapped his head up at her action, his ears somehow flushing an even darker colour as his eyes scanned her bemusedly and her own face turned pink, but she trudged on.

"Ron, I will not lie and say that your words did not hurt, BUT—" she added hurriedly as he began to avert his gaze again. "But, what is different is that none of my schoolmates before Hogwarts ever felt any regret. None of them ever apologised unless one of my teachers made them. And none of them ever raced to put their lives in danger and attempted to save me—someone that they were rightfully annoyed with having lectured them in class—none of them then chose to take on a full-grown mountain troll to save me either."

Ron's blue eyes met her brown again as he processed Hermione's words before finally returning her smile, albeit clearly slightly abashed at her praise at his actions against the troll. Hermione flushed a bit darker as the thought that he looked really rather cute crossed her mind, a thought that she had had more than once. These thoughts would never, ever be revealed to anyone though and she would deny that they had ever crossed her mind if anyone asked. Rushing to change her current train of thought, she looked down at the chess pieces again and cleared her throat slightly. Ron seemed to catch on and quickly started re-assembling the chessboard for a new game.

"So, err... Where should we start? I could start down the line and explain the pieces and how they move if you would like?"

"That would be great!" she replied, praising herself for her voice coming out without a squeak. Looking down, she carefully grabbed one of her knights and moved it forward on the board and added, "The knight sometimes confuses me by how it moves. Is it always two spaces forward and one to the—"

"Not always," he corrected softly. Leaning forward slightly, he gently placed his hand atop of her own that was moving the knight.

This time a tiny squeak did emerge from Hermione, but a soft pop from the nearby fire covered up the sound. Ron seemed to hesitate nonetheless, looking up from the board to meet her eyes again in question, silently asking permission to help guide her movement of the chess piece. Hermione nodded slowly, carefully managing to avoid smiling goofily and managed to avoid blushing even more, though Ron clearly failed in the latter.

"So, err, the knight sort of has a two-part move and essentially moves three spaces," he said as he looked down at the board and guided Hermione's hand, attempting to ignore the heat that must be radiating from his ears. "You can move forwards or backwards, left or right one or two spaces. The next move must be in the other direction—if you moved vertically, you must now move laterally. If you moved two spaces, you have one space left to move. Does—err... I mean, am I making any sense?"

Hermione gave up attempting to fight the grin that had broken out on her face as she nodded in affirmation. As he began demonstrating the different ways a knight could move across the board, she felt her face begin to revert to its natural state. She also could not help but be genuinely impressed by the patience Ron was displaying in teaching her the game. His notoriously short fuse was nonexistent and despite the colour to his face, he pushed along in his explanations and demonstrations, pausing to confirm whether Hermione understood, and taking the time to help her understand if she didn't.

After working their way through all of the pieces and allowing each of their respective ears and faces to return to their normal colours, they reset the board to play a game. The result saw Hermione lose again spectacularly.

"You were much better that time though!" Ron assured her without the slightest hint of sarcasm as he reset the board again. "You've improved!"

"Well, I had a good teacher," she replied as she made her first move. Brushing her hair behind her ear and giving him an uncharacteristically shy smile she added, "And a great friend."

Ron paused his movement of a pawn and looked up at her, his ears colouring again. Running a hand through his hair, he cleared his throat and then returned her smile with his own, albeit tinged with confusion and nervousness.

"I—err... need to think about my next move," he said looking down at the board.

* * *

Closing Author's Note: This was something that came to mind over the past few days and written over the course of two or three days. I'm not entirely sure what to think of this, but I think it's a little cute and welcome any thoughts, comments, or constructive criticism. Cheers all.


End file.
